Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-08-07
TO LIVE 100 YEARS.
MAN WHO DIES At SD DIES 20 YEARS
Too YOUNG
Louis Corners Gwen Up by the Doctors at Forty,
Lived 70 be One Hundred -Thomas Woods
Case How % Die Natural
Death.

if the lives OF the philosophers be com
pared with those of kings and great men
meaning great, warriors, rulers, aud SO
forth, 1t would almost seem as if the life
Of a sage were proportional differently
from the lives Of other men. 'FOr, 1T
says, we find that the generality OF these
wise men were nearer 100 than 80 years "i
age at the time Of their respective deaths.
He attributes the difference to the temper
unce and abstemiOusness which most ol
the ancient sages practlCed, which phhoH"-
pliers Ui modern times have recognized rs
involving the true secret of longevity.
But If it really Is the case that by WISE
regimen and by Il diet so modern rs To APP
pear ascetic men may attain to five score
years instead OF four score which the an
Cieut Hebrew describes aS the extreme
limit of life then We shall have to admit
that the lives OF all men who attain Int Ia
four score years are in reality cut short
by careless living least where there
is no especial constitutional defect to
ubridge the natural life. II this
should, on inquiry, appear TO be the case,
Il difficulty which has long perpleNed
psychologists would be removed. Limit
ing our attention to mammals, we find that
in all species except man the duration Of
lite, apart from accident, exceeds about
iivei0ld the time in which maturity is oh.
tanned This is the average relation he.
tween the total length Of life and the
internal between birth ahd maturity. The
law is tolerably uniform. The dog, tur
example, which attamS its full growth and
strength in about five years, seldom lives
beyond - while the elephant, which
requires full ~ years to attain its full
growth. lives for Il century.
OF ourselves, however, who require the
same time, or perhaps on the average a
year OF two longer, To attain our full de,
yelopmcnt, it has been said. rs with AT
thority The days OF our years are three
score and ten, aud though men be 81 stron"
that they live iourSrorr years, yet Is then
strength but labor and sorrow, 81 soon
pa,Seth it away aud We are gone. The
pSIlmist this particular Psalm is altuh.
utcd to Moses would probably have modl-
fled his opinion had there bgcu men in his
day like our English Gladstone, the
mouldcr OF States decree To
say nothing OF his stalwarl
workmanship long after the three
score Years and ten have passed; or Pal
mrrstun, prime minister in his cighticth
year or Hroughau, full OF strength when
long past even the lourscorc years. In Eu-
rope such men rs MoitRe and Bismarck
show that the Psalmist's rule does not now
hold GOOD. whatever may have been the
ease in his time But in orr day. a. in
the DAYS Of old the philosopher lives lon,
yer than the ruler. the statesman aud the
warrior. The same arc which has seen 4
W,iliuutnu die nj - and 4 Pllmerstou m
~ has still Iiyius the physicist Cheyrcui at
oyer 100 and Inns bui Ilr,lv LOST the NH.
Iautbrorist NIontrIiorr who also had plss.
ed the century.
The common idea is. however. that Ion.
gryity depends entirely ON inherited con.
stitution. Probably there Is much truth
i'm this idea: but il Is not improbable, and
the point seems worth careful study. that
longevity is affected Indirectly rather than
directly by inheritance. 1t may well b,
that the descendant of luug-hvcd folk i,
api tu be- luur-lyrd not safely or chiefly
because he inherited constitutional pecu.
iaritIes tending To length of life, but hr.
cause be iuhrrits qualities leading to tenn
prrancc ami abstinence 10y which life l.
prolonged. or even simply because temper
ancc aud abstinence have been encouraged
during his youth by example and by pre-
rrpt
Considering the question OF longevity
from this point o! view, the ease OF LouI'
Cornaro, which has always been Thought
most Instructive, becomes iuII also oil en-
courtgemrnt.
In the first place, 1t must remembered
that tornaIo who WAS born at Venice
about the year liG,I was a man OF "eaR
constitution. Moreover, from the age o.
| 4 to that oI - he pursued courses tha'
would have seriously taxed the strongest
constitution. Life At - was Il burden Il
him hrvausc ut tine disorders brought
on hy uolous living ana IN
| diligence IN every Nihd OF excess
| The next five years were passed
IN almost unremIitug suffering. lie wa
| told hy ms physicians, when ~ years oiu,
| that nothing could prOIoug ms lie Tor more
| than two or three years, hut that such lii'
as remained to him might be less painful
| than the years hc had recently lived II III
would adopt more temperate habits. j
ever there was ease where inherited con
stitution aud an ntemperltr lie threaten
ed AL early death, tins was one: hu'' "
events betcll, IT turned out that II cIe'
there was 4 case where the hle-picscrVin!
| influence OF wise regimen and abStemIou
! habits was demonstrated, Cornara's mus
| he cited us especially significant.
At the Igrol 80 Cornaro began gradual!
| to reduce the quantity Of food, both lIqui'
and solid, which ne took each day, TIL Il
length he only took what nature absolute
| ly required lie tells Us th't "' i'I'' III
found this severe regimen very disagree
able, aud conicSN,S that me reIapStN IRON
time to TIM to the urShpotS "' E%VP'.,
But hy rrSumlug ms efforts alter carh IAN
urc he succeeded IN less than a year II
adopting permanently spare ana moNer
ate system. BY this time he was airead.
restored 10 perfect health. but mus ID
he had only followed the couu'eis vi III
physicians somewhat more steadily tnaI
they expected, or than Is uSu" III N"c'
eases, anu therefore with unexpected GIo ~;
.eNulG'' ~ was "'',' Nv NV w
he'uin 'h'' ne went vi l" '"'I,